Kenya | Technology and Communications

[xJamaax]

Pay-television provider Smart TV has closed shop after failing to secure adequate funding for its operations, leaving thousands of its subscribers and dealers with obsolete decoders.

Word that the signal had gone off at Smart TV started last week after more than 2,000 subscribers failed to access premium content through the decoders.

Calls to the operator’s offices also went answered, with the chief executive officer and his compliment of seven members having left a month ago.

“We have closed shop and are currently shopping for an international investor following the exit of the Swedish investors – Next Generation Broadcasting (NGB) — which has put us into financial constraints,” said Mohammed Nyaoga, chairman of Transmex, which owns Smart TV.

Mr Nyaoga said the directors of the firm would meet on Friday to decide if subscribers will be refunded the Sh5, 000 they invested on decoders and the subscription fees for the month of January.

SmartTV’s bouquet of eight channels covering news, entertainment, sports, kids’ content and gossip was going for Sh990 a month.

Smart TV becomes the second pay- television operator in Kenya to close shop after GTV fell into financial distress in 2009, amplifying the need for a consumer protection law.

The closure now leaves Wananchi’s Zuku as the main rival of MultiChoice DStv that has dominated the market for over 15 years.

Source

[chui]

"There is a reason I am not in the other 57 countries in Africa, I am only visiting Kenya and South Africa ," Elop said.

Elop announced that Nokia would be increasing investments in Kenya and Eastern Africa to the tune of 25 per cent more than they did a year ago. The investments will be in the form of Nokia's Research Centre in Kenya, which is one of its kind in Africa and Indian sub-continent.

"It's very much the case, that as we have gone through various changes in our organisations and our structure, we have made a very conscious decision to make Kenya one of our worldwide hub for innovations from where we can serve Africa and parts of Middle East. That is why I am visiting here over the last couple of days, " said Elop.

http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=E47...5544C01776A74E

[volinamwarabu]

The Min of Roads in collaboration is in the process of publishing the 2011 infrastructure directory...This will be one of the biggest directory both electronic version and Hard copy. The E version is not yet...but will be soon. Any interested parties either engineering and consultants firms,construction good and service providers,registered engineers or anybody targeting infrastructure sector can list their profiles... rates starts fro 5,800 kshs. interested parties to contact info@moland.co.ke or pwaigumo@yahoo.com.

[tallglassy]

Allied Technologies’ (Altech) operations in East Africa are poised to contribute to a third of its parent company’s annual earnings, according to Craig Venter, the chief executive of the JSE-listed Altech.

Venter’s belief in the region remains strong despite receiving a flood of criticism from investors for the unit’s dismal performance during Altech’s 2010/11 financial year. Altech blamed poor management, and the unit’s managing team was replaced with South African information technology (IT) stalwarts.

Venter, speaking at the official launch of Altech Kenya Data Networks (Altech KDN) last week, said: “The key thing for us here is the economies are growing, the political environment is stable and Kenya as an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) environment is advanced.”

He said data download speeds were faster and that a high-definition movie was ready to be viewed within eight minutes in Kenya.

“Kenya has already deployed fibre to the home while in South Africa it has not yet been liberalised,” Venter said.

Connectivity in the region is boosted by the proliferation of undersea cables Eassy and Seacom, including Teams, all of which Altech has bought capacity in.

Altech spent $75 million (R560m) in 2008 when it bought 51 percent of KDN and two other internet service providers in the region, SwiftGlobal and Infocom. It has laid about 3 000km of fibre optic cable and Altech KDN manages more than 6 200km of fibre optic cable in East Africa. At the time it committed $10m in working capital and Sameer Group $20m to develop the data centre investment.

Altech’s confidence in the growth of ICT in East Africa has spurred it to commit a further $20m capital investment over the next three years in Altech KDN, said to be the first dedicated data centre in Kenya.

To date the facility has attracted Kenya’s Equity Bank and Airtel, a major Indian telecoms operator in Africa, as the main clients.

The bomb-proof, flood-proof and earthquake-proof basement in the centre will also be home to some Kenyan government records when that section is built in Altech’s new financial year, beginning in March.

“Altech views east Africa as the growth engine for our company,” Venter said.

Shahab Meshki, the chief executive of Altech KDN, said the data centre allowed only one minute downtime a week or 52 minutes a year. Each level consumes 1 500 kilowatts of electricity an hour, “which is enough power to cover more than 121 households for an entire year”, Meshki said.

In March 2008 Altech bought a 51 percent stake in Kenya Data Networks. “A tier three data centre plays a critical role in Kenya’s financial services sector. A performance adversary of 10 milliseconds can cost tens of millions of shillings a year,” Meshki explained.

Francis Njoroge, a data centre manager, said the facility’s generator capacity could provide up to approximately four days of backup electricity. Njoroge said plans were in place to include solar energy as an alternative power source. The site in Nairobi already hosts several solar panels while the roof is slanted at a 5º angle to accommodate future solar panels.

Construction was supposed to take place in December but has been delayed until the new financial year.

The data centre clients straddle Kenyan borders into neighbouring Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi. Clients bring their servers and routers and Altech hosts the equipment.

Guest speaker at the launch Raila Odinga, joint Prime Minister of Kenya, said the country’s IT sector had already recorded “tremendous growth” over the past decade and it was projected to grow at an average of 20 percent a year.

“(The sector) has created a significant shift in our economy.”

Odinga said the most significant development had been the advent of mobile money, specifically M-Pesa, a Kenyan-derived product by Safaricom, a Vodafone subsidiary which is finding traction in Africa.

He said three out of four adults in Kenya were using M-Pesa, that was primarily created to introduce the unbanked to basic electronic banking services but also used by the banked to transfer money and for payments.

South Africa’s Vodacom, also a Vodafone subsidiary, has successfully grown the product in its Tanzanian market, but M-Pesa has experienced hurdles to gain momentum in South Africa.

Odinga, who encouraged new foreign investment such as that of Altech, said: “There is very little trade within Africa. The only way we can promote this trade is through collaboration on road, railway and telecoms… we should remove bureaucracy, deal with the issue called corruption and keep true to the promise to promote efficiency.”

According to Vitalis Ozianyi, a Kenya-based independent communications and technology analyst, the prospects for 20 percent an annum growth for Kenya’s ICT industry “is influenced by the government’s policy of zero rating most ICT services, which allows duty and VAT free importation of new fully assembled computers and laptops.

Consumers and businesses do not pay VAT for locally developed software and ICT systems”.

The Kenyan government is constructing a Silicon Valley-type centre in Machakos, a town about 64km south-east of Nairobi as part of it’s wider initiative, Vision 2030.

The state has commissioned a youth entrepreneurship programme that considers ICT as a key area for innovation and job creation.

“Konza City would be a business centre similar to Sandton that would provide modern facilities to meet the growing demand from local as well as foreign investors. Investments in state-of-the-art ICT infrastructure and systems will meet current and future communication needs of businesses,” said Ozianyi.

Middle-class suburbs in Kenya are connected by a fast cable broadband link, linked to the internet via optical fibre. Ozianyi said the fibre-link provided for backhaul for cable traffic from each home.

“Cable users can subscribe to television as well as internet services. The latter is most popular, because the 2 000 Kenyan shilling (R177) per month for fast uncapped internet is great value for money,” he said.

“The cable service has seen entrepreneurs converting their homes into SoHos (an enterprise with less than 10 employees) for the ICT SMEs,” Ozianyi said. - Asha Speckman

[Rongai]

IBM to roll out ‘smarter cities’ concept in Nairobi

http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/I...z/-/index.html

IBM, a technology and consulting multinational, plans to bring the ‘smarter cities’ concept to Kenya, integrating data from government and private sector agencies to enhance responses to emergencies.

The Smarter Cities initiative will see information on weather, calamities such as road accidents, fire outbreaks, theft available in a central location.

Under this design, every new information or warning, would be displayed instantly on a common dashboard at the city’s central command and made available to government agencies and private sector players.

“This is the only way that authorities can better serve the urban population that is expected to continue growing rapidly in cities that still use plans of 1950s,” said Tony Mwai, IBM’s general manager for East Africa.

Mr Mwai said the death toll from the recent Sinai fire tragedy would have been much lower with the concept in place.

The central information unit will rely on cloud technology to access and share databank already built by other organisations such as bank’s customer credit information, criminal records of police, consumer behaviour, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) tax compliance record or Ministry of Land records.

Successful in Rio

The grand plan is contained in a White Paper titled “A Vision of a Smarter City: How Nairobi Can Lead the Way into a Prosperous and Sustainable Future” that IBM launched in Nairobi on Wednesday.

“This White Paper is the basis for a series of studies to start shortly to determine what each government department must do in preparation for the smart city roll out,” Information and Communication permanent secretary Bitange Ndemo said.

The study which is to be funded by IBM is set to ride on the progress of the open data initiative that the World Bank has been pushing for to ease access of information in government departments.

Unlike at the moment when every government department is working independently without the input of the private sector, a smarter Nairobi will leverage on modern technology to create efficiency in service delivery.

Dr Ndemo said all organisations including those which have already developed internal integrated information systems will be interlinked by IBM to create a single data command unit for Nairobi City as a whole.

“Once all information is controlled at one point, we expect users to buy them, creating layers of jobs in the process,” he said, dismissing claims that smart city concept would led to job losses.

The IBM’s Smarter Cities’ concept is already working in Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro where it helped to set up a central operations centre to help in response to emergencies such as floods and mudslides that hit the city in 2010.

[Rongai]

Kenya plans virtual IDs to curb fraud in payment systems



Photo/Diana Ngila Exhibitor cubicles and delegates at the on-going AITEC conference at the KICC on March 7, 2012. Information PS Bitange Ndemo said, during the opening the conference, that the government was developing public infrastructure for virtual identities cards.

Kenyans will soon acquire unique virtual identities for e-commerce to curb fraud in payments and reduce cash transactions.

Information permanent secretary Bitange Ndemo said during the opening of this year’s annual AITEC Banking and Mobile Money Comesa conference on Wednesday that the government was putting in place infrastructure for the project.

(READ: Top tech firms set for Africa’s annual IT summit in Nairobi)

“We have been working hard to develop public infrastructure for virtual identities unique to every individual in this country.

"We are close and soon we are going to start issuing them,” he said adding that most of the infrastructure was in place."

Dr Ndemo said this was one of the reasons the government had been licensing fourth generation (4G) or LTE networks —which use wireless technology—allowing for larger capacities of data and high-end services at faster speeds.

He said the move will help to develop an economy that uses less cash— which is cheaper for financial institutions as they are able to cut logistical and other transaction costs.

Cheaper costs of doing business for financial institutions are expected to trickle down to consumers, helping commercial banks expand their services to unbanked consumers.

Surveys on financial access done by Financial Sector Deepening indicate that overall inclusion in Kenya increased to 67.3 per cent from 58.7 per cent between 2009 and 2006 while the number of individuals excluded from the formal banking system reduced to 32.7 per cent from 41.3 per cent over the same period.

This was after Safaricom introduced its money transfer service —M-Pesa — which has helped bring in more individuals into the formal banking system.

“The success of M-Pesa is linked to registration,” said Dr Ndemo adding that lack of a proper registration system in Tanzania could be one of the reasons the system has not picked up as much in East Africa’s second largest economy.

Paynet Groups’ chief executive officer in Kenya Bernard Matthewman said although details of how the unique virtual identities will be issued and used are not yet available, it could help reduce fraud.

Mr Matthewman, whose company runs PesaPoint payment access points, said a unique virtual identity would help track consumers’ transactions using cards.

“It will help identify the person making the payment. De-risk is important as transactions will be done at less costs,” he said.

While card transactions have been increasing in the country, Internet transactions have not been growing as fast, partly because consumers have not been assured of the security of transactions online.

In 2010 the Government embarked on a number of information communication technology projects in various ministries, including that of Immigration and the department of Registration of Persons that will, among other things, lead to the setting up of single point of reference for acquisition and storage of all personal information.

An Integrated Population Registration System—a one-stop National Population Register—will contain personal details of all Kenyans and registered foreigners and link all primary registration agencies such as the Kenya Police and Kenya Revenue Authority, the Teachers Service Commission, the Judiciary and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.

[Rongai]

Top tech firms set for Africa’s annual IT summit in Nairobi

http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/T...z/-/index.html

October 5 2011

Senior Experts from at least six Fortune 500 tech companies are among participants expected during Africa’s annual ICT summit to be held in Nairobi early next month.

The conference aims to share experience on various technologies that can be used to improve economies.

The companies expected at the event include Cisco, the world leader in Internet plumbing, IBM and Microsoft.

Others are SAP and Nokia Siemens Networks.

The event organisers’ AITEC chairman Sean Moroney said the ‘big six’ would contribute to the conference that includes more than 80 regional and international experts designed as an intensive knowledge-sharing opportunity for East Africa’s ICT community, in three subject areas namely cloud computing, data security and mobile applications.

“We want them to go beyond technology trends to engage with the regional ICT industry to grow and develop local expertise and business models.

We want them to understand, network and do business with the local developers, especially those of mobile applications,” said Mr Moroney.

Other than the six companies, major developers including Spanish software company Temenos, management software giant SAP and Kenyan headquartered global financial software maker, Craft Silicon, would also participate.Temenos entered the East African banking software niche recently and would sponsor of a session on cloud computing for financial institutions.

The company is presently conducting one of the biggest banking software projects in East Africa for Kenya Commercial Bank.

The summit, organised with sponsorship from Kenyan integrated ICT solutions provider Total Solutions, promises to give the local ICT industry latest updates on developments in the sector as developers from the region are making headlines with new products, particularly mobile phones applications.

Led by Safaricom’s M-Pesa, the mobile money transfer app that changed the region’s financial landscape, innovations from East Africa have won one award after another.

Other award winners like Ushahidi.com, which developed an online disaster tracking tool, and Virtual City, whose CEO John Waibochi won a $1 million award during the Nokia Innovations Challenge in Europe would be among key speakers sharing their experiences.

According to Ryan Moroney, the events director, web applications are likely to be a crowd puller during the conference. Developers of new apps from Nairobi’s iHub, a web app developers’ nest, and mLab, a similar centre for developers of mobile apps would exhibit their innovations at the forum.

The Swift Global chief product development officer and Isis Nyong’o, vice president and head of Africa’s largest mobile advertising network, InMobi, would make presentations during the conference.Germany, which was among the first country to confirm participation at the event communicated that the Ministry of Economic and Technology Affairs state secretary Stefan Kaiferer, would give an opening speech at the event.

His entourage of 100 delegates includes deal hunters, investors and ICT companies.Other countries represented at the summit are Spain, India, Senegal, Egypt and Sri Lanka.

[Amboseli Daima]

Welcome to icow and hightech farming.

[desert burner]

Kenya’s quest to become the global hub for mobile phone applications has been bolstered by a grant of Sh4.5 billion ($55 million) from the World Bank.





The money will be used to help developers come up with simple solutions for every day use especially in health and education.

The World Bank said the grant would enable Kenya to enhance accountability through web-based applications and transform the economy.
“Information technology has on average contributed one percentage point to Kenya’s growth since 2000, and opened a path for achieving remarkable improvements in transparency and also in governance,” said Johannes Zutt, the World Bank country director for Kenya.

Information Permanent Secretary Bitange Ndemo said the money would help scale up content development and create jobs while facilitating the government’s efforts to offer it services online.

“We shall work more to simplify data and convert it into information,” said Dr Ndemo in reference to e-governance, a programme through which public services are offered online to increase efficiency and curb corruption.

The World Bank said the grant would support Kenya’s efforts to increase Internet penetration and create an enabling environment for budding software applications developers to thrive.

“Kenya has put in place the second-fastest broadband on the continent (after Ghana), which has reduced the wholesale Internet capacity prices by over 90 per cent and increased Internet penetration from three to 37 per cent of the population in the past decade,” read part of a statement from the World Bank.

The government through the Kenya ICT Board will extend the grant to innovators who want to commercialise their ideas.

Youth groups, mainly university students and fresh graduates who have ventured into start-ups, operating from various innovation centres across Nairobi such as iHub, iLab Africa, mLab, and NaiLab are the driving force behind the applications.





There are more than 3,000 software developers who have come up with both mobile and personal computer-based software applications that are changing lives across the continent.

The applications are designed to help users solve their day-to-day problems, ranging from linking farmers with buyers for their produce, to monitoring if a patient is taking a prescribed drug, to locating a restaurant.

The World Bank is keen on software applications that can enable citizens to monitor how grants given to the government or organisations are used.

Nokia has also announced intentions to establish a regional research and development centre in Nairobi to capture the growing number of software developers who can make applications for its African market.

Other global organisations are trooping to Kenya in search of locally-made software applications which they hope to replicate in other parts of the world.


http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/W...2/-/index.html

[desert burner]

http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/B...n/-/index.html

[desert burner]

Mobile service provider Safaricom will double its broadband capacity next week opening a new battle front in the data market.






The move comes weeks after its main rival


"The network will run at 42mega bits per second (mbps) from the current 21mbs and it will be the fastest network in the whole of East and Central Africa," Safaricom CEO Mr Bob Collymore said.

The firm has been under pressure to diversify its revenue streams away from voice following last years price wars. But its quest to control the data market has in the recent past witnessed increasing competition especially from Telkom Orange and Airtel as more telcoms invest in the service.

Airtel rolled out its 3G network in February putting it at par with Safaricom.

Safaricom's move to double its capacity can therefore be read as geared towards differentiating itself from rivals.

"We are already receiving the modems to support the new network," Mr Collynore said.

However the rollout will begin from Nairobi and its environs before going national.

Mr Collymore was speaking at the connected Kenya Summit 2012 in Mombasa that began on Tuesday.

The summit is in its fourth year and is the brainchild of the Kenya ICT Board in collaboration with industry players and government.





The annual forum is a platform for collaboration, capacity building and knowledge sharing between the government and the ICT stakeholders.

This year's summit--themed Knowldege and beyond--has attracted over 500 delegates including captains of the ICT industry, IT practitioners and officials from the vision 2030.

The four day conference will see players discuss how to build the knowledge economy, how to take advantage of the open data, linking innovation and trade.

Players will also discuss how to involve citizens in the growth of the sector, and the opportunities in e-commerce and retail trade. Companies will also showcase their latest products and services.

Information and communication permanent secretary Bitange Ndemo is expected to present the National ICT Masterplan 2017, which outlines the government's blue print for ICT on Thursday.

http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/C...c/-/index.html

[èđđeůx]

the beauty of competition eh?

I'm wondering though, if subscriber growth is a dead-end for $$ making for Safaricom why don't they try to expand to other nations in the region?

[xJamaax]

Kenya now connected to LION2 cable



The East African region has received a broadband digital boost from another submarine cable, LION2, (Lower Indian Ocean NetWork), which is now live.

This is the fourth submarine cable in the region. France Telecom-Orange and other members of the LION2 consortium — the Group’s subsidiaries Mauritius Telecom, Orange Madagascar and Telkom Kenya, as well as two other operators, Emtel Ltd and Société Réunionnaise du Radiotéléphone — celebrated in Mayotte, Comoros, the launch of commercial services for the broadband submarine cable LION2.

The cable provides the island of Mayotte with broadband connectivity for the first time and reinforces international network connectivity for Kenya.

The new cable concludes the second phase of the Group’s plans to expand broadband Internet connectivity in the Indian Ocean following the launch of the LION (Lower Indian Ocean Network) submarine cable at the end of 2009.

The LION cable, which links Madagascar to the global broadband network via the Réunion and Mauritius islands, has now been extended to Kenya via Mayotte, with the LION2 cable.

In Kenya, the LION2 cable is connected through a new landing station that has been built at Nyali, Mombasa. This cable is particularly important for Kenya as it strengthens the country’s connectivity to international networks and covers its capacity requirements for the years to come.

In addition, the new cable also provides an alternative route for passing secure broadband transmissions through Europe and Asia for all African countries in which the Group is located.

By providing access to a fourth submarine cable, Kenya gains the flexibility to redirect traffic between the cables as required.

The 2,700-km long fibre-optic cable uses wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), currently the most advanced technology for submarine cables.

Source

[xJamaax]

[xJamaax]

source

[èđđeůx]

Wananchi gets Sh6b US loan to extend internet, TV services in East Africa


http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/C...a/-/index.html

A Kenyan company has won US government approval for a $72 million (Sh6 billion) direct loan to extend high-speed internet service throughout East Africa.

Wananchi Group Holdings will use the capital to build out fibre-optic cable lines in Kenya to provide television programming and voice-over internet telephone services to unconnected segments of the population.

The Nairobi-based company will also offer pay TV via satellite to markets in Tanzania and Uganda and, through agents, to six other countries in the region.

The loan from the US government's Overseas Private Investment Corp (Opic), approved last week, is seen as an expression of confidence in Kenya's technology sector. It also sends a signal to US businesses about investment opportunities in East Africa.

“Delivering state-of-the art internet service and television programming with improved local content to urbanising East African markets at affordable prices is an important step forward for the region’s growing middle class,” Opic CEO Elizabeth Littlefield said.

“We are pleased by the opportunity to support a technological upgrade that provides so many developmental benefits across so many African markets.”

Opic is a US government finance institution focused on development projects.

[èđđeůx]

Pesa Pata: Kenya’s next big innovation?
http://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/p...ovation/17640/



Kenyans can now access quick loans from their nearest kiosk thanks to a new product called Pesa Pata that targets the unbanked and low income earning individuals who would traditionally not qualify for bank loans.

Pesa Pata (Swahili for ‘get money’) has been unveiled by Paddy Micro Investments, a micro-finance institution founded in 2008.

Pesa Pata uses an agency model where the kiosk owner is the agent. At the kiosk the customer is given a Pesa Pata scratch card of a value between US$3 and $59. Each card has a unique number that is then loaded onto the customer’s mobile phone. The amount is then credited to the customer’s Safaricom M-Pesa mobile money account.

Joyce Wangui, a director at Paddy Micro Investments, explains that Pesa Pata seeks to bridge the gap in access to credit for low income earners who lack pay slips or any other form of collateral.

“We realised that there are times when people need instant cash and going to a bank or micro-finance institution for a loan is not an option. Other people who work in the informal sector at most times cannot even qualify for bank loans,” says Wangui.

The loans are repayable at a 5% to 10% interest rate. The kiosk owner makes a profit from the interest. The model is dependent on the level of trust between traders and their customers.

“Anywhere you live you will have a relationship with a kiosk owner. When you don’t have money you take milk or sugar on credit. The kiosk trader knows you and trusts that you will pay for the goods. Instead of taking goods on credit, the kiosk trader will now lend you money in the form of a Pesa Pata scratch card,” she explains.

The new service is already proving to be popular just one month since its launch. So far thousands of kiosk and shop owners countrywide have signed up as Pesa Pata agents.

Felistas Wanja who runs a shop along Jogoo Road in Nairobi explains that Pesa Pata has become an extra source of income for her.

“Last week one of my loyal customers had a sick child and she needed money urgently. I gave her two $59 Pesa Pata cards. When she paid back I made profit of $5 on each card. In the past people would take sugar on credit, now I give them the card, they buy goods in cash and at the end of the month I will make a profit when they repay the loan,” explains Wanja.

Leah Wanjiku who owns an auto spares shop in Eastleigh Estate in Nairobi says she has invested over $2,400 in Pesa Pata cards.

“If I give you a card you must pay back in 15 days. I only lend to people who have jobs or run a business. If I don’t know you well enough, you will have to bring someone to guarantee you,” says Wanjiku.

Wanjiku and Wanja say that one of the challenges they face as small traders is having to sell goods on credit, especially towards the end of the month. This affects their cash flow and ultimately their profitability. They say Pesa Pata has helped solve this, since they can now lend money through the cards, sell their goods in cash and still make a profit.

The cards are also a safe way for traders to handle large amounts of cash. It is practically impossible to activate the scratch cards without the kiosk owner’s knowledge since they each hold a secret number that is needed to transfer money from the card to an M-Pesa account.

***

Paddy Micro Investments’ Joyce Wangui grew up in a family that has been in business for many years. When she completed her studies she joined the family business, which was dealing with fast-moving consumer goods. It is here that the idea of starting a micro-finance institution was conceived.

“I interacted with clients and discovered that a lot of people could not buy goods in cash. We sold a lot of goods on credit. The banks did not finance these people since they did not have collateral,” she recalls.


With the fast rising popularity of Pesa Pata among shop owners and clients, Wangui is targeting to reach 7 million users by December 2012.

Wangui would not disclose how much money she has invested in rolling out Pesa Pata, but confirmed that launching such a platform is capital intensive with heavy investments towards manufacturing the scratch cards, marketing and building software.

“We expect to break even in the next three months,” she says.

Wangui argues that Pesa Pata is the next big innovation and hopes to see it grow beyond the heights of internationally acclaimed M-Pesa.

“We see ourselves going to the rest of Africa. Across the continent, small entrepreneurs and low income earners face the same challenges. In the next two years we will be all over Africa,” she says.

Wangui is also building a new platform that will eliminate M-Pesa agents from the Pesa Pata chain to counter the extra costs clients have to pay to withdraw money via the mobile money transfer platform.

“We want to build our own platform so that when you get a Pesa Pata card on credit and load the money to your phone you will be able to cash it at the same kiosk. The M-Pesa withdrawal charges our clients have to pay now are unfair and a big challenge,” says Wangui.

[èđđeůx]

Kenyans set to enjoy faster Internet speeds
http://www.nation.co.ke/business/new...z/-/index.html

Kenyans are closer to enjoying fast Internet speeds following the Treasury’s approval of a public-private partnership to implement the network’s roll-out.

Information permanent secretary Bitange Ndemo has said the Treasury last week gave its nod to a consortium of nine private firms in partnership with the government to implement the Long Term Evolution (LTE) network.

“Rolling out LTE should start in a few months. We want to target especially the rural areas that have thus far been technologically marginalised” Dr Ndemo said.

LTE is a fourth generation (4G) mobile network that will provide fast speeds and higher bandwidth for multimedia services .

The roll-out will cost an estimated Sh42 billion. The PS said that some parts of the country will start to enjoy 4G services by the end of this year.

He was speaking in Kikuyu during a site visit of one of the ICT Board’s Pasha digital villages. He revealed that the nine private firms in the consortium include Kenya’s four main mobile phone operators, hardware manufacturers, Nokia Siemens Networks and Alcatel-Lucent, Kenya Data Networks (KDN), South African mobile operator MTN and an unnamed US telecom firm.

[xJamaax]

Nice project.

[èđđeůx]